Hen Hud Continues Search For Superintendent

Daniel McCann, center, retired from the Hendrick Hudson School District in June. To his left is school board member Marion Walsh, and to his right is school board president Mary-Pat Briggi. Photo Credit: Jessica Glenza

School district officials say the search is being conducted for the district by Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES, and community meetings to "facilitate obtaining input" have been scheduled this week.

The meetings begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Buchanan Village Hall. School district officials said they're hoping to receive input from Buchanan senior citizens at the first meeting.

“We look forward to hearing what’s important to the members of our community, our school district employees, students and parents. But we also want to hear from our seniors who have so much to offer," said Board of Education president Mary-Pat Briggi.

Board of Education members won't be present during the four community meetings scheduled this week. Instead, a BOCES representative will conduct the meetings and report back to the board, according to a press release from the district.

Three more meetings are scheduled. The second and third are Wednesday in the Hendrick Hudson High School library, first for "Parents, PTA and HHCEF" members at 6:30 p.m., then for the "community" at 7:30 p.m. The fourth meeting is at 10 a.m. Thursday at Verplanck's Schoolhouse, where the board expects "Cortlandt and Verplanck senior citizens."

Currently, Brian Monahan, former Rockland School District Superintendent, is serving as Interim superintendent for the district.

Comments (6)

Coca, there is no single thing or small group of things that "the public" has generally requested. A small portion of the community sought artificial turf. That was on three different ballots and defeated each time. Another small portion wanted improved performing arts facilities. The public strongly defeated that. Most members of the community wish far greater accountability for teachers. The teachers union blocked that during long range planning and has consistently opposed efforts along those lines.

The District has an older, well entrenched staff with an astounding number of teachers making over $100,000, with benefits any adult would desire. The last Superintendent was making over $250,000. Almost all administrators are at or above $150,000. For all of the money spent in a $60+ million budget, the Distict has demonstrated little to no improvement in the education of students in comparison to other Westchester school districts.

Rather than looking for another NY person looking for the next step up the ladder and paying the going rate for a Superintendent in Westchester, the District should look for a young, dynamic individual who wishes to try innovative ideas and do so with the understanding that if that person succeeds he or she will be moving on to a much larger district within three to five years.

The real problem is that our district has been so poorly run (over the last number of years) that there is a general feeling of "why bother?". Although there was some involvement with the bond issue, the board of education's turning a deaf ear to what the public repeatedly requested left many people with this"why bother"feeling.